


Phantom Pains

by saidno1ever



Series: You're Sick, I Hate You and Love You For It [7]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Humantale, Gen, Mental Instability, Unreliable Narrator, alternate timeline awareness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-07-11 06:42:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7034104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saidno1ever/pseuds/saidno1ever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You're the phantom limbs, a ghost hanging off of my skin. I could reach out and touch you I swear</p><p>(Sans and Papyrus go stargazing.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Phantom Pains

The sidewalk has a greasy grey sheen to it. It's littered with the rigamortis corpses of worms unable to escape with the storm earlier and gooey cigarette butts. 

Papyrus' hand is sticky in yours', his fingers secured tightly by your own. In his other hand is a thick book. In your other hand is a telescope. 

This street is noisier than the last, but significantly darker due to the faulty wiring in the streetlights. Dull neon signs cut through the gloom, acting as a beacon to draw in late night stranglers. The motel sits idly in front of you. Someone on the second floor is howling, but the two of you focus on the side of the building, where termites have eaten away large cavities of the wood. Papyrus yanks his hand out of yours', instead curling the tips of his fingers into one of the shallow holes. 

Sometimes you wonder if Papyrus was a monkey before he was a human or a skeleton. Climbing has always come easily to him and you've watched him successfully scale undented walls more times than you can recall. 

It's easy to lose track of yourself listening to the steady clink and scrape of his galoshes embedding themselves in the wall then dragging upward. 

"Sans!" Papyrus snaps from the roof. His face is silhouetted against the sign's glow. 

It hurts to look straight up, the top of your spine crunches dully, "H-" 

"Hurry up, Sans! You're so slow!" 

You chuckle and stuff the telescope under your arm. The wall's craters light up as you touch them, a dull bluish glow to let you know which one's are safe to use. You follow the path and before you know it, Papyrus is tugging you the rest of the way onto the roof. 

The shouting sounds louder from up here. 

The two of you head to one of the back edges, disturbing the crows and setting down the telescope. You drop onto the uneven gravel and Papyrus sits on his knees beside you. He's staring down at the point where the voices seem loudest. 

You bury his hand in yours' once again and finally allow yourself to look up. 

The stars are spread out above you in pinpricks of pink, yellow, and blue. Some twinkle on a point while others blip steadily and unenthusiastically. Behind those is a vast sheet of black mixed to navy blue. It stretches beyond your eyes, beyond your comprehension, creating the void stitching together universes. You raise your free hand and feel the pulsing heat. A pink hue dusts your palm and you feel the ripples of nearby black holes and supernovas. 

Someone reaches back, carefully parting the stars to reflect their own hues. They're so close. 

"Wowie! The stars look really cool!" 

The presence pushes closer. 

"Is that the Big Dipper?... Or is that Cassiopeia?" 

Slashes of white bleed through the black, bordering on translucent. 

Papers flap beside you as your brother approaches the usual page, "Cepheus! Wow... I was close though!" 

You curl your hand into a fist, leaving one finger out to point, "There. That's the Big Dipper." 

Papyrus follows your finger, squinting, then takes the telescope. He watches the arrangement glow for a few seconds before huffing, "How do you always remember where all of them are? My memory is much better and not even I can do that." 

You gently lower your hand to the gravel. It's engulfed in blue flames. 

"I dunno."


End file.
